All human beings experience loss of some sort; indeed, “suffering is part of the divine idea” (Beecher, n.d.).
Many of us also experience trauma, which is a deeply troubling and painful experience, such as involvement in a natural disaster, combat, personal violence, or the death of a child. Sometimes people can get through the various stages of grief and ultimately move forward with life after loss or trauma. But often, it becomes too much to bear without clinical help.
While many of the counseling approaches noted above are applicable, methods that are especially appropriate for treating trauma and loss are outlined below.
CBT is frequently used to treat loss, as well as trauma resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, Prolonged Exposure Therapy was designed to treat PTSD.
With this approach, the therapist combines repeated in vivo and simulated exposure to enable the patient to experience trauma without the feared outcomes. This technique is considered by many clinicians as the best option for PTSD (Van Minnen, Harned, Zoellner, & Mills, 2012). Additionally, exposure that utilizes virtual reality headsets is also effective at treating PTSD (Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008).
Interpersonal Therapy is an additional option for those dealing with trauma and loss. Interpersonal Therapy examines symptoms related to loss through the lens of personal relationships.
Bereaved clients undergoing Interpersonal Therapy also may be guided in establishing new relationships (Wyman-Chick, 2012). Although often used to treat depression, research also has indicated that Interpersonal Therapy is a practical approach for PTSD (Rafaeli & Markowitz, 2011).
Another approach for treating loss, trauma, and PTSD is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR is based on the idea that psychological distress is the product of traumatic events that have been inappropriately processed.
The EMDR approach involves stimulating the brain’s information processing system while painful events are being recalled. Such stimulation may include eye movements, hand tapping, or listening to tones (Shapiro & Solomon, 2010). It is believed that the bilateral stimulation applied during EMDR enables the client to reprocess connections between memories and emotions.
Scientific research has indicated that the EMDR approach is valid for treating PTSD (Shapiro & Solomon, 2010).
Attending support groups is another approach that has the added benefit of creating a place in which clients are supported by those who can genuinely empathize with their feelings. Feelings of relatedness are often comforting for those who have felt isolated in their grief.
Support groups are not for everyone, as they do require the ability to interact with multiple people about painful life experiences. But for those who are ready and able to share in this way, they may enable participants to form deep bonds with others and benefit from multiple perspectives, as opposed to that of just one therapist.
Overall, these approaches only represent a few examples of counselling techniques designed to help people through stress, trauma, and loss. Various additional techniques are available (e.g., Spiritual Counselling, Hypnotherapy, Stress Inoculation Therapy, etc.) based on the client’s needs and preferences.
H.S. Lonczak, Ph.D.